Yahoo Autos No complaints from Norris over team orders
Lando Norris says Oscar Piastri is helping him in his title challenge despite being overtaken by his teammate and finishing behind him in the Italian Grand Prix.
McLaren started on the front row in Monza with Norris on pole position and Piastri second, but an excellent move from the Australian around the outside into the second chicane saw him take the lead on the opening lap. Piastri then led the majority of the race before Charles Leclerc pulled off a one-stop strategy to win ahead of the two McLarens, with Norris finishing third and taking six points out of championship leader Max Verstappen.
“I have help,” Norris said. “Yeah, [Piastri] helps me! But I’m not here just to beg for someone to let me past. That’s not why I’m here. I’m here to race. He drove a better race than me. I finished third and that’s where I deserved to finish.
“It’s the same answer every single weekend: I’ll do the best I can. The more points I gain, the better, but still got eight races to go.”
Despite having no complaints about Piastri’s overtaking move or the fact McLaren did not impose team orders to switch the drivers late in the race, Norris admits the overall outcome of the race is frustrating after starting from pole position.
“Pretty disappointing, which is obvious from the outside, even,” he said. “Charles drove a great race, honestly. Hard to know if we could have done what he did today, but they deserved it. Both Oscar and Charles drove a good race. So, disappointing, starting from pole and only third when I think the pace was very strong. A shame but that’s what it is.”
Norris also feels there was little McLaren could have done to cover Leclerc’s strategy as it committed early to a two-stop that eventually left both drivers unable to catch the Ferrari in the closing laps.
“We tried [a one-stop], we knew it was the quicker thing to do, but I think we just killed the tires a little bit too easily,” he said. “When you’re in third, it’s a much easier position to just try and risk and do such a thing. I don’t think we can be too disappointed. I think it was a lot riskier for us to try and do it than it was for Charles.
“He made it work, so hats off to them and Ferrari, and himself because the driving part makes a big difference out there. We thought of it, and we wanted to do it, but we couldn’t today. It was clear yesterday we had a good qualifying car, but today our race car was probably quite good enough.”
